The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Phlox, botanically known as Phlox drummondii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sunphlorai’.
The new Phlox is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Shiga, Japan. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact Phlox cultivars with attractive flower coloration.
The new Phlox originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in June, 2002, in Shiga, Japan, of a proprietary selection of Phlox drummondii identified as code number 2Ph-45a, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Phlox drummondii identified as code number 2Ph-45b, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Phlox was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Shiga, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new Phlox by vegetative cuttings in a controlled environment in Shiga, Japan since October, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Phlox are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.